Art of submarine signaling.



PATENTED MAY '7, 1907.

L. I. BLAKE.

ART OF SUBMARINE SIGNALING.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 5, 1907.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

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ART OF SUBMARINE SIGNALING.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 5, 1907.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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LUoIEN I. BLAKE, or BOSTON, MASsAoiiUSETTs, ASSIGNOR TO SUBMA- RINE SIGNAL COMPANY, or BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORA- TION OF MAINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 7, 1907.

Application filed January 5,1907. eri l N 350,983-

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, LUorEN I. BLAKE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Art of Submarine Signaling, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the drawings accompanying and forming apart of the same.

In the art of submarine signaling, as heretofore practiced, by the propagation in the -water of sound vibrations and their reception by submerged instruments sensitive to Such vibrations, it has been customary to inclose the sensitive devices in suitable casings under water, either over the side of a vessel or in a tank or suitable receptacle in the hold, and composed in part of the walls of the vessel, or to attach them directly to the inner face of the skin or wall of the vessel 7 surface of the wall.

below the water line.

As the first named plan requires that the casing containing the device sensitive to the sound vibrations be attached to the outside hull of the vessel or float after it, it is seldom resorted to on account of the very obvious objections to either expedient. On the other hand, if the sensitive device be applied directly to the inner wall or skin of the vessel, it has been found to be affected to an objectionable degree by the ships noises, so that the procedure which has heretofore been found most practicable is to attach a tank or water-tight receptacle directly against the inner wall of the ship, to fill it with water and immerse the sensitive instrument therein. In order to secure the best results, however, it has been found desirable to use tanks covering a comparatively large area of the inner Wall of the vessel, and this has frequently necessitated the cutting away of portions of the ships frame in order to expose sufficient This is an eX ensive and otherwise objectionable plan, an it was through attempts to obviate it that I was led to making the discovery upon Which my present application is based.

Certain substances, chiefly of a fibrous nature, such as woods, possess the property of consonance. Sonorous vibrations imparted to any limited ortion of these substances cause their who e mass to be excited into molecular vibrations of similar pitch. The consonant material becomes thus a secondary source of sound. It has no natural pitch of its own, as does a resonant cavity, as it is excited by a primary source of any pitch or quality, and its consonance does not depend u on its shape or size, but upon the physica properties of the material of which it is composed.

Consonant materials are characterized by a cellular or fibrous structure and high molecular elasticity. Steel and glass, for example, though highly elastic, are granular or crystalline, not cellular in molecular structure, and are not appreciably consonant. White pine wood, on the other hand, is highly consonant.

Resonance as distinguished from consonance depends upon the shape and size of cavities, and upon the free vibrations of the medium within the cavities, and not upon the composition of the material which bounds them. It is important to bear this distinction clearly in mind in order to arrive at a full understanding of my present inven tion.

This invention is based upon the use and application in a novel manner of consonant material as a sound intensifier in submarine signaling. I have discovered that consonant material, because its action is essentially molecular, is eminently fitted to receive.

sound from, and to deliver it into, water, in which medium the sound vibrations most useful for signaling are essentially molecular, and that for either purpose it acts as a powerful reinforcer of sound.

In carrying out this invention I interpose between the water through which the sound vibrations are transmitted, and the source or receiver of sound, a body of consonant material directly associated in acoustic relation therewith. This may evidently be accom lished in a great many ways, but I shal illustrate herein only those which I have thus far, in my experimental investigations and ractical tests, found to be the most effective, and which may be generally described as follows:

For sendlng purposes a mass of consonant material is immersed in the water at any given station, Whether on shore or in the vicinity of a vessel, in which latter case it may be immersed in the peak or other tank within the vessel, the walls of which tank are composed in part of the sides of the vessel itself. In either case the body of con sonant material may be excited to powerful consonance by any suitable rimary sound producer, such as the stem 0 a power-open ated reed or rod longitudinally excited by an electric current. In this case the consonant substance becomes a secondary source of molecular vibrations which are delivered into the water.

For receiving purposes a body of consonant material is immersed in the water or is attached to or forms part of the side of a vessel, or is immersed in a tank attached to such side and filled with water. The sensi tive device which is usually an ordinary microphonic transmitter, but which for convenience, since it forms a part of the receiving apparatus, is referred to as a rece ver, 1s immersed in the tank or attached directly to the consonant material, which greatly intensifies the sound received from the water or through the ships sideand delivers 1t 1n greater volume. and unimpa red quality either to the tank or to the receiver directly.

The specific ways of carrying out this 1nvention so as to realize the advantages of the roperty of consonant material wh1ch reners it ca able of intensifying sounds elther received i om or transmitted to the water, will be illustrated in detail by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a sectional view of a portion of a ships hull, a water tank containing a sensitive receiving device and a block or filler of consonant material forming one side of the tank and attached directly to the inner surface of the skin of the ship. a Fig. 2 is a plan view of the tank and portion of the shl s wall. F1 s. 3 and 4 are similar views of mo ifications of t e improvement. Fig. 5 illustrates an apparatus for transmitting signals through water by the use of a consonant material.

Referring to Fig. 1, A deslgnates the skin of an iron or steel ship and B the rlbs. C 1s a tank such as is commonly used in this system and which is ordinarily secured below the water line directly to the skin or wall of the vessel, which latter forms one of its sides. In the present instance, however, the tank is bolted to a block of consonant material D, consisting of a slab of white pinewood inbase block D is solidly filled with the same or similar consonant material E. Within the tank, and immersed in the water With which it is filled, is one or more micro honic transmitters in a circuit or circuits F, leading to a convenient part of the vessel and containing a telephone receiver which is not shown. The microphones or sensitive receivers, may be supportedwithin the tank by attaching them to rubber bands stretched across the central part of. the same. Any ordinary instruments of this class may be employed for the purpose, such as a granular carbon transmitter, inclosed so as to exclude water, a Bell receiver either with or without the usual induction coils.

Sounds or signals such as are produced by a submerged bell, or other source of sound vibrations capable of beingv transmitted through the Water, are carried through the ships skin to the body of consonant material which, being thus excited into vibrations of a similar pitch and greateramplitude, acts as an intensifier of the sounds which are taken up and delivered by the sensitive instruments.

The principle involved in the use of consonant material above described may be car-' ried out in a great variety of ways, it being necessary, in general, to observe only such precautions as will bring in operative con tact with the water, through which the sounds are transmitted or in contact with the skin of the vessel and preferably below the Water line, a body of consonant material which will be excited into molecular vibra- .tion by the transmitted sounds and o erate.

thereby a suitable sensitive device, or re ceiving and rendering such sounds audible. For example, as shown in Fig. 3, the tank C may be bolted to a slab or base of consonant IOO material D, which may be secured to and over the ribs B of thevessel. Sound posts G, which I have made of consonant material, but which may be of any material whose acoustic conductivity is suitable for the purpose, are driven through the base into contact with the skin A between the ribs to form paths between the two for the transmission of the vibrations. In ractice I have found the use of such soun osts to answer all practical requirements 0 a solid filler of con sonant material.

' In vessels provided with a wooden or other sheathing, such as shown at H in Fig. 4, substantially the same results may be secured by bolting the consonant base or filler D to the sheathing, and driving soundposts G through both the base and the sheathing into contact with the skin of the vessel or in other ways providing acoustic conductors for the trans-- seams coil N, through which is passed a direct cur rent imparting a constant magnetization to the bar. In addition to this coil is a coil 0, through which an alternating current is passed at the desired intervals for the urpose of settling the bar into molecular vi ration.

When it is desired to transmit signals, the alternating current circuit of coil 0 is made and broken to produce any prearranged code. The vibrations thus imparted to the bar and intensified by the mass of consonant material are transmitted through the shi s. sides and the water to great distances. his figure serves merely as an illustration of the principle of the application of consonantmaterial to the transmission of signals as the specific means for accomplishing this may be very widely varied.

In the practical use of this invention I have found that California white pine, or, in general, wood similar to white pine and free from resinous substances is the best consonant material for the purpose; when the surface of such woods is exposed to the water, it may be coated with shellac or similar material to prevent or reduce the absorption of water.

In all of the applications of my invention, above described, and in any others carried out with due regard to the principle hereinbefore illustrated, the consonant material acts as a powerful reinforcer of the sound vibrations which may be imparted to it from the water, or imparted by it to the latter. Its molecular action in the latter case is clearly distinguishable from the molar or segmental action upon which bells, whistles or ordinary sound producing devices depend, and very greatly improved results are se' cured by its use both in transmitting and receiving sounds.

In the present application, in order to conform to the requirements of the Patent Office rules I claim broadly the application of consonant material as a reinforcer of sounds transmitted or received in the art of submarine signaling when such material is interposed in the manner described, between the water and source or receiver of sound vibrations. I also claim specifically the application of such material to the receiving of sound vibrations under the conditions specified, and its use in connection with a sound receiver. In another application I have made specific claims to the use of consonant material in connection with a sound producer.

What I claim herein is: 1. The im fovement in the art of submarine signa ing, consisting in the combination with a source or receiver of sound vibra-' tions, of a body of consonant material directly associated in acoustic relation therewith, and interposed between the same and the water, and adapted to intensify the vibrations by which it is excited, as set forth.

2. The combination of a receiving device sensitive to sound vibrations transmitted through-the water, of a sound intensifier consisting of a body of consonant material directly associated in acoustic relation therewith, and interposed between said receiver and the water so as to be excited to consonance by sound vibrations in the water, and impart the amplified vibrations to the sensitive device, as set forth.

3. The means for receiving sound vibrations transmitted through Water, comprising in combination a body of consonant material attached to the side of a vessel so as to be excited to consonance by sound vibrations receivedthrough the same from the water, and a sensitive receiving device directly associated in acoustic relation therewith, and

acted upon by the consonance of the saidbody, as set forth.

4. The means for receiving sound vibrations transmitted through Water, comprising in combination a tank secured to the side of a vessel, a receiving device sensitive to sound vibrations, and a body of consonant material directly associated in acoustic relation therewith, and adapted to be excited to consonance by sound vibrations received from the water through the wall of the vessel, and to impart the same to the sensitive device within the tank, as set forth.

5. The means for receiving sound vibrations transmitted through water, comprising in combination a body of consonant material attached or secured to the side of the vessel, a tank or receptacle secured to such body and formed in part thereby and a sensitive receiving device immersed in said tank, as set forth.

6. The means for receiving sound vibrations transmitted through water comprising, in combination, a vessel, a receiving device sensitive to sound vibrations, a body of consonant material supporting the same and acousticconductors between the side of the vessel and the consonant material, and constituting paths for the transmission of vibrations from the water to the receiving device, as set forth.

7. The means for receiving sound vibrations transmitted through water, comprising,

in co1nbinati0n,-a vessel, a tank formed in vibrations from the water to the receiving part by a body of oonsonant material, a redevice, as set forth. ceivmg devlce sensitive to sound vibratlons I within said tank and acoustic conductors i LUCIEN BLAKE between the submerged skin of the vessel and \Vit-nesses: the said body of consonant material, and J. CONVERSE GRAY,

constituting paths for. the tiansmission of G. LBENTLEY. 

